Patten ahead in race to be Oxford's new chancellor

After the first day of voting, Chris Patten, the EU Commissioner and former Conservative cabinet minister, leads the race to become the next Chancellor of Oxford University.

Yesterday's exit polls suggest that Lord Bingham, the senior Law Lord and former Master of the Rolls and Lord Chief Justice, and Sandi Toksvig, the comedian, are close behind in the bid to succeed Roy Jenkins, chancellor from 1987 until his death earlier this year.

Lord Neill, the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, who forced Tony Blair to hand back a £1 million donation from Bernie Ecclestone, is said to be in fourth place, after about 5,000 of the electorate of 100,000 Oxford graduates voted yesterday. The voting took place in the shadow of the Sheldonian Theatre, Sir Christopher Wren's first building.

After the second and last day of voting today, the university proctors will count the votes in Convocation House, where the Civil War Parliament was held, and proclaim the winner on Monday.

Whoever wins will have no ostensible power but plenty of behind-the-scenes clout. There's no pay, no tied cottage and few formal duties.

Those who voted yesterday, though, took the election very seriously. The big talking points were top-up fees and Oxford's bogeyman - the proposed Access Regulator, intended by the Government to open up access to leading universities.

Yesterday afternoon Lord Bingham was taking in the sun on the steps of the Sheldonian. "I'm not at all sure how well I'm doing," he said. "But, if I do win, I'm prepared to take on the Access Regulator but only once I see what his real powers will be."

Lady Bingham, in a "Vote Bingham" baseball cap, handed voters badges as they filed past. "If Patten wins that'll be the end to any chances of any non-politician winning ever again," she said. "We've had Macmillan and Jenkins. It's time for a lawyer."

The other lawyer in the race, Lord Neill, was getting heavy support from the academic community, after his years as the former Warden of All Souls and his time as vice-chancellor, when he raised £350 million for the university.

"I'm going for Neill," said Geoffrey Lewis, 82, the former Professor of Turkish at St Antony's. "We can't have Patten after he gave in to the Chinese in handing over Hong Kong and then disbanded the RUC."

Kate Bingham, 37, Lord Bingham's daughter and a graduate of Christ Church, said of Patten. "He's not even here today. Sandi Toksvig isn't here either - she's filming Have I Got News for You."

Support for Toksvig, the only candidate against top-up fees, was strong among the undergraduates, who are ineligible to vote.

Will Straw, 22, the Foreign Secretary's son and head of the Oxford University Student Union, stood alongside Lady Bingham, handing out fliers for Toksvig and said: "She's not a politician and she's not an ageing man. She'll bring vibrancy to the post."

Voters trickled into the University's Divinity School in a thin, steady flow across the 15th-century flagstones. There are no booths - voters openly fill in their slips on large oak tables, putting the candidates in order, one to four.

Looking over people's shoulders, Mr Patten was at the top of many lists. One of them was Mark Robinson, a former Tory MP and now chairman of the Council of Education in the Commonwealth. "I'm a friend of Chris's," he said. "I got booted out at the same time as him. I'm keen on his position on Europe but I think he'll also be excellent at using his contacts and influence to help the university."

If today's vote goes like it did yesterday, Mr Robinson's old friend may well be winning an election that will go some way to erasing the memory of that night in Bath in 1992.